To see this book's webpage on the Counterpoint Press site go to:http://www.counterpointpress.com/1582430829.html

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THE ROAD TO FEZ is a magical and luminous first novel about a journey
of
desire that unfolds in surprising revelations, and the realization that
love
transcends death.

18 year-old Brit Lek returns to Morocco--her birthplace--planning to fulfill
her mother's dying wish that she make a pilgrimage to Fez to the grave
of Suleika, a 19th century Jewish martyr revered by both Arabs and Jews.
But Brit gets sidetracked when she falls in love with her Uncle Gaby,
her mother's passionate, restless younger brother and the town womanizer.
Gaby tries to break free from the borders of his life as a Jew in Morocco
by
working with Arab potters and creating art that speaks a universal language.
Moving easily between the Jewish Mellah and the Arab Medina, Gaby offers
a
window for Brit to see beyond the confines of their family's life in
Morocco.

As Gaby's and Brit's forbidden love deepens, their story is interwoven
with that of Suleika--the achingly beautiful 17-year-old Jewish woman
who was killed because she refused to renounce her faith. Setton provides
a backdrop composed of fragments of Suleika's brief, mysterious life--pieces
of a puzzle that don't quite fit together. Who was Suleika? Why did she
choose death over life? Did she fall in love with a handsome Arab boy,
the Sultan, or her own brother?

RUTH KNAFO SETTON was born in Morocco. The recipient of literary fellowships
from the NEA, PEN, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, she has published
fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry in many journals and
anthologies, including Another Chicago Magazine, Nimrod, International
Quarterly, Tikkun, and With Signs And Wonders: An International Anthology
of
Jewish Fabulist Fiction. She is the Writer-in-Residence for the Berman
Center for Jewish Studies and the English Department at Lehigh University.

The tenth conference of the Society for Judaeo-Arabic Studies will be
held this summer (August 6-9, 2001) at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
in
association with the Blechner Chair in Jewish Values, the Chaim Herzog
Center for Middle East Studies and Diplomacy, the Goldstein-Goren
International Center for Jewish Thought, the Goldstein-Goren Department
of Jewish Thought, and the Ben-Zvi Institute for the Study of Jewish
Communities. The President of Ben-Gurion University, Prof. Avishay Braverman,
the Rector, Prof. Nachum Finger, and the Dean of Humanities and Social
Sciences, Prof. Jimmy Weinblatt are supporting the conference as well.

The Society for Judaeo-Arabic Studies was founded seventeen years ago
in order to promote research into Jewish creativity in medieval
Judaeo-Arabic, and thus, to enhance and deepen our knowledge and insight
into this culture. The first honorary president of the Society was the
late Prof. Shlomo Dov Goitein, renowned historian and scholar of the Cairo
Genizah. Prof. Yehoshua Blau, former president of the Israel Academy for
the Hebrew Language and a noted scholar of Judeo-Arabic, was its first
president. Currently, Prof. Haggai Ben-Shammai, expert in Karaism and
Judaeo-Arabic thought, serves as president of the association, and Prof.
Joel Kraemer, expert in Medieval Islamic and Jewish philosophy, serves
as
vice-president. Over 200 scholars from Israel and abroad belong to the
association. Their main scholarly interests lie in the fields of history,
thought, law, language, literature and material culture.

The Society organizes an academic conference every two years, alternately
held in Israel and abroad. The conference papers which have been presented
have been subsequently published in proceedings. In the past, conferences
have been held in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Chicago, Cambridge,
Strasbourg, Princeton, and Atlanta. The tenth conference of the association
will be held at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in August, 2001,
on the topic "Spirituality and Material Culture in Medieval Judaeo-Arabic
Culture." Conference organizer is Prof. Daniel J. Lasker of the Goldstein-Goren
Department of Jewish Thought and incumbent of the Norbert Blechner Chair
in Jewish Values and Tradition.

The Ben-Zvi Institute for Study of Jewish Communities coordinates the
activities of the Society and will host the opening session on August
6 in Jerusalem.

I typed Gozlem Gazetecilik into Google and came up with a Turkish newspaper
called Shalom (Salom with a cedilla under the "s" in Turkish)
that they publish, with a link to the publishing company, Gozlem Kitapciligi.
You can access them online at www.salom.com.tr or by e-mail at shalom@turk.net.
They give a fax number of +90 212 2319283. I suspect that the telephone
number you were given is really two 7-digit numbers in Nisantasi; they
should be preceded by the country code for Turkey (90) and the city code
for Istanbul (212).

Anyhow, the Web page does list the book you mention at a price of 2,750,000
Turkish lira, which these days would be about $3, I think. I suspect that
if you just send an e-mail or go to the Web page, you will be able to
find out how to order it.

I hope this helps. I had no idea such a newspaper existed!

All the best,
Jane Hathaway

Associate Professor
Dept. of History
Ohio State University

Dear Aviva,

I took another look at the Gozlem Web page. The instructions they give
are to send a fax to +90 212 2319283, or an e-mail to shalom@turk.net,
with the following:

(1) Book title, code number (? I couldn't find this on their list), and
author--so, in this case

*87 Anyos lo ke tengo* by Lina Albukrek; price is 2,750,000 TL

(2) Address and tel. number

(3) Credit card type, number, and expiration date.

Then, they say, they will send the book as soon as possible. I guess if
I were you, I would e-mail just the title and ask whether there is any
problem with ordering it before I gave them my credit card number. I think
they probably speak English.

Oh, yes, it seems the way to get to the publisher's page from the newspaper
is by clicking "Gozlem Kitapciligi" on the sidebar (Kitapciligi
is a bookstore or publisher).

For my forthcoming article on the American Ladino press, I have two questions
I hoped list members could help me with.

1. Moise Gadol, the editor of New York's *La America* (1910-1925), is
said to have come from Rustschuk, Bulgaria (see Marc D. Angel, *La America*,
e.g.) This city is apparently synonymous with "Ruse". Can anyone
tell me which ethnic group(s) referred to it as "Rustschuk"
and which as "Ruse" and when the change to Ruse came about?

2) I have a paragraph where I discuss Ladino scholars and how they acquired
their Ladino knowledge. Would anyone happen to know if Simon Marcus is
a native speaker of Ladino? He wrote *The Judeo-Spanisch Language* (Hebrew),
Jerusalem: Kiryat Sepher, 1965. I've also seen him cited as "Simon"
(with an accent mark over the "o", if that's the same person).
Robert Attal of the Ben-Zvi Institute has kindly offered to look up S.
Marcus's obituary for me after the Passover holidays, but if anyone has
information that they could share sooner (and in the event that the obituary
doesn't yield the information I seek), I would appreciate it.

Please excuse my delay in submitting my report of last December's AJS
Sephardi/Mizrahi Studies Caucus. The occasion was well attended and we
were priveleged to have Professor Norman Stillman as a keynote speaker.
Although our meeting was cut short due to time constraints, we also benefited
from an informative discussion following the address. I would like to
share with you highlights from Professor Stillman's address as well as
some of the participants' ideas.

Before I do so, I would like to announce that I have decided not to undertake
any Sephardi/Mizrahi-related programming for next year's AJS. Having co-chaired
and organized the past three Caucus events, I am now turning my attention
to my own publications. I also suspect, as some of you do as well, that
the time has come to translate the Caucus meetings into action. I would
like to encourage those of you attending the AJS to continue organizing
efforts for Sephardic Studies at the AJS (including a fourth Caucus, if
you deem this important). At our last meeting, many of you made valuable
suggestions, which may now be implemented. I would be happy to distribute
to this Discussion List any ideas or calls for presenters/performers,
and to offer guidance where I am able.

I look forward to your Sephardi/Mizrahi endeavors and your continued participation
in this electronic Dicussion List. Best,

Aviva Ben-Ur

*Suggestions/Comments from Caucus Discussion at the AJS*

[Please note: This session was not recorded on tape, and I am thus relying
on my own notes. If any corrections or clarifications are needed, or if
I have omitted anything, please send this information to me for posting.
My apologies in advance for any inaccuracies, including university affiliation
-A.B.]

1) Submit Sephardi/Mizrahi-related articles to the *AJS Review* to keep
the field in the forefront. (Norman Stillman, University of Oklahoma;
more suggestions in highlights to his keynote address, below)

2) Organize lectures on Ladino. Misgav Yerushalayim recently sponsored
a four-day conference on Ladino in Jerusalem. Introduce a Sephardic evening
performance or film. Last year's AJS had two performances on Yiddish culture
and literature. Next year, one of these events should be Sephardi/Mizrahi-related.
(Tamar Alexander, Ben-Gurion University[?])

3) Infuse Sephardi/Mizrahi elements into Holocaust and other courses we
already have. Every program should have a "Hebrew and Jewish Languages"
section, as opposed to "Hebrew and Yiddish", for example. This
will allow us to be inclusive without seeming competitive. (Benjamin Hary,
Emory University)

5) At Caucus meetings, we should introduce ourselves to encourage networking
and awareness of the field and its scholars. (Deborah Starr, Penn State
University)

6) The Program Committee is open to Sephardi/Mizrahi Studies. Our problems
lie elsewhere; e.g. Jewish Studies is funded by Holocaust survivors. (Jane
Gerber, Graduate School and University Center-CUNY)

Professor Stillman began by noting that in Israel, Spain and France, for
example, the integration of Sephardi/Mizrahi Studies into general Jewish
Studies isn't a problem. The reason for this disparity is:

a. There is a large population of Jewish emigres from Islamic and Judeo-Spanish
lands in israel and France.

b. The availability of large repositories of archival sources and living
informants who speak the local language.

c. In Spain, Sephardim are part and parcel of the Spanish heritage.

Professor Stillman then discussed improvements in the development of the
field in the U.S., mentioning the outstanding scholars and teachers, Samuel
Armistead (Judeo-Spanish Studies) and S. D. Gotein (Mizrahi Studies).
He then traced developments in the field from the 1970s through 1990s,
noting that the biggest boost was achieved from 1991-1993, just before
and after the quincentennial of the Jewish expulsion from Spain. He also
mentioned the new category for Sephardic Studies in the National Jewish
Book Awards, followed by an abatement that rests with us today. Professor
Stillman ended on an optimistic note, observing that the AJS 2000 conference
boasted many integrated (non-balkanized) panels, and featuring anywhere
from 20 to 30 papers out of 100 presentations.

Professor Stillman concluded with suggestions for the immediate future:
organize more sessions with comparative panels and encourage more colleagues
to present at the AJS, e.g. MLA Sephardi Studies scholars, especially
younger scholars.